Author Archives: Janice Campbell
Setting the Scene in Bleak House
Charles Dickens was a master of description, both in scene setting and character creation. One of my favorite passages is the opening six paragraphs of Bleak House. I can hardly read it without wanting to wrap up in a warm blanket … Continue reading
Posted in Classics-Based Writing Resource
Tagged bleak house, cbw, charles dickens, description, scene-setting
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Daffodils by William Wordsworth
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud By William Wordsworth I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath … Continue reading
Posted in Audio / Video, Classics-Based Writing Resource
Tagged daffodils, lyric poem, poetry, romanticism, wordsworth
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How to Use a Writer’s Handbook for Instructive Evaluation
A good writer’s handbook makes it easy to offer specific, constructive feedback. If you have used a handbook such as Writers INC or the Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers, you know that information is categorized into numbered paragraphs. These … Continue reading
Posted in Writer's Handbook
Tagged correct, eil, evaluate, evaluation, feedback, grammar, handbook for writers, punctuation, rubric, style
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How Should I Determine Placement in Excellence in Literature?
To begin Excellence in Literature, students should be reading at high-school level, and have grade-level or above skills in grammar, spelling, and language mechanics. I expect students to grammar- and spell-check all papers before turning them in, as learning to … Continue reading
What Should an Author Profile Look Like?
One of the key features of Excellence in Literature is that we don’t assign anything that is just busywork. The Author Profile is designed to capture the essential points in an author’s life, with an emphasis on those that directly … Continue reading
“Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori” from the Odes of Horace
“It is sweet and good (or right) to die for your fatherland,” wrote the poet Horace (Odes III.2.13), and echoes of this idea are seen in requiems and memorials throughout history. “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori,” translated “What joy, … Continue reading
Posted in Classics-Based Writing Resource
Tagged dulce et decorum, horace, lyric poem, odes, owen, pro patria mori
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Letter from Abraham Lincoln to Mrs. Bixby
The Bixby letter has long been considered one of the finest examples of letter writing. This letter from Abraham Lincoln to Mrs. Lydia Bixby, a widowed mother thought to have lost five sons in fighting for the Union during the … Continue reading
Posted in Classics-Based Writing Resource
Tagged abraham lincoln, cbw, civil war, mrs. bixby
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Battle Hymn of the Republic
In the early days of the American Civil War, American writer Julia Ward Howe penned the lyrics now known as the The Battle Hymn of the Republic. The stirring words were set to the equally lively music of “John Brown’s Body,” a popular song … Continue reading
Posted in Audio / Video, Classics-Based Writing Resource
Tagged battle hymn of the republic, cbw, civil war, john brown's body, julia ward howe
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Gulliver’s Travels, The 1939 Movie
Gulliver’s Travels, originally titled Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships, was written in 1726 by Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift. It … Continue reading
Posted in Audio / Video
Tagged 1939, gulliver's travels, jonathan swift, movie, parody, satire, travellers' tales
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George Orwell, A Life in Pictures – A Documentary
George Orwell (1903-1950) is the pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair, an English novelist. He is best known for the allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and his dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), two books which at one point held a record … Continue reading
Posted in Audio / Video
Tagged a life in pictures, animal farm, Documentary, eric arthur blair, george orwell, nineteen eighty four
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